diff -r 08c8d492f46d Doc/library/inspect.rst
--- a/Doc/library/inspect.rst	Sat Oct 11 14:32:23 2014 +0100
+++ b/Doc/library/inspect.rst	Sat Oct 11 14:39:20 2014 +0100
@@ -365,6 +365,14 @@
    Python source file (if the object is a module).
 
 
+.. function:: splitdoc(doc)
+
+   Return a tuple where the first element is the synopsis of the function and the second
+   element is the rest of the documentation.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.5
+
+
 .. function:: getfile(object)
 
    Return the name of the (text or binary) file in which an object was defined.
diff -r 08c8d492f46d Doc/whatsnew/3.5.rst
--- a/Doc/whatsnew/3.5.rst	Sat Oct 11 14:32:23 2014 +0100
+++ b/Doc/whatsnew/3.5.rst	Sat Oct 11 14:39:20 2014 +0100
@@ -203,6 +203,10 @@
   subclassing of :class:`~inspect.Signature` easier (contributed
   by Yury Selivanov and Eric Snow in :issue:`17373`).
 
+* New function :func:`inspect.splitdoc`, which returns a tuple from a
+  documentation where the first element is the synopsis of the function and the
+  second element is the rest of the documentation.
+
 ipaddress
 ---------
 
diff -r 08c8d492f46d Lib/inspect.py
--- a/Lib/inspect.py	Sat Oct 11 14:32:23 2014 +0100
+++ b/Lib/inspect.py	Sat Oct 11 14:39:20 2014 +0100
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
     getfile(), getsourcefile(), getsource() - find an object's source code
     getdoc(), getcomments() - get documentation on an object
+    splitdoc() - split a doc string into a synopsis line (if any) and the rest
     getmodule() - determine the module that an object came from
     getclasstree() - arrange classes so as to represent their hierarchy
 
@@ -482,6 +483,18 @@
         return None
     return cleandoc(doc)
 
+def splitdoc(doc):
+    """Split a doc string into a synopsis line (if any) and the rest."""
+    if not isinstance(doc, str):
+        raise TypeError("doc must be a string")
+
+    lines = doc.strip().split('\n')
+    if len(lines) == 1:
+        return lines[0], ''
+    elif len(lines) >= 2 and not lines[1].rstrip():
+        return lines[0], '\n'.join(lines[2:])
+    return '', '\n'.join(lines)
+
 def cleandoc(doc):
     """Clean up indentation from docstrings.
 
diff -r 08c8d492f46d Lib/pydoc.py
--- a/Lib/pydoc.py	Sat Oct 11 14:32:23 2014 +0100
+++ b/Lib/pydoc.py	Sat Oct 11 14:39:20 2014 +0100
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@
 from collections import deque
 from reprlib import Repr
 from traceback import format_exception_only
+import inspect
 
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------- common routines
@@ -91,13 +92,14 @@
     return result and re.sub('^ *\n', '', result.rstrip()) or ''
 
 def splitdoc(doc):
-    """Split a doc string into a synopsis line (if any) and the rest."""
-    lines = doc.strip().split('\n')
-    if len(lines) == 1:
-        return lines[0], ''
-    elif len(lines) >= 2 and not lines[1].rstrip():
-        return lines[0], '\n'.join(lines[2:])
-    return '', '\n'.join(lines)
+    """**DEPRECATED**
+
+    Split a doc string into a synopsis line (if any) and the rest.
+    """
+    warnings.warn("the pydoc.splitdoc is deprecated in favour "
+                  "of inspect.splitdoc",
+                  PendingDeprecationWarning)
+    return inspect.splitdoc(doc)
 
 def classname(object, modname):
     """Get a class name and qualify it with a module name if necessary."""
diff -r 08c8d492f46d Lib/test/test_inspect.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_inspect.py	Sat Oct 11 14:32:23 2014 +0100
+++ b/Lib/test/test_inspect.py	Sat Oct 11 14:39:20 2014 +0100
@@ -289,6 +289,19 @@
         self.assertEqual(inspect.getdoc(git.abuse),
                          'Another\n\ndocstring\n\ncontaining\n\ntabs')
 
+    def test_splitdoc(self):
+        from pydoc import getdoc
+
+        with self.assertRaises(TypeError):
+            inspect.splitdoc(None)
+
+        self.assertEqual(inspect.splitdoc(getdoc(mod)),
+                         ('A module docstring.', ''))
+
+        self.assertEqual(inspect.splitdoc(getdoc(mod.StupidGit)),
+                         ('A longer,', 'indented\n\ndocstring.'))
+
+
     def test_cleandoc(self):
         self.assertEqual(inspect.cleandoc('An\n    indented\n    docstring.'),
                          'An\nindented\ndocstring.')
diff -r 08c8d492f46d Lib/test/test_pydoc.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_pydoc.py	Sat Oct 11 14:32:23 2014 +0100
+++ b/Lib/test/test_pydoc.py	Sat Oct 11 14:39:20 2014 +0100
@@ -439,6 +439,14 @@
         finally:
             sys.stdin = previous_stdin
 
+    def test_issue12916(self):
+        # Test issue12916 to ensure we will remove the pydoc.splitdoc in 3.7
+        splitdoc = getattr(pydoc, 'splitdoc', None)
+        if splitdoc and sys.version_info >= (3, 7):
+            self.fail("pydoc.splitdoc() is deprecated since 3.5, "
+                      "you must to remove it in 3.7 and use inspect.splitdoc()")
+
+
     def test_non_str_name(self):
         # issue14638
         # Treat illegal (non-str) name like no name